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I didn’t have any pictures of me taken, but there may be some from the show photographer… I entered “Big John” in to three events: halter, western under saddle and barrel racing.  Halter class was Friday, and Western under saddle and barrels were Saturday.  For his halter class, Big John did really good!  Considering we had only practiced the day before, he walked, trotted and squared up nicely.  I didn’t know I was supposed to put ribbons in his mane, so will definitely do that next time around .  There were six horses in his class, three were very well groomed, ribbons, and bows and perfectly polished hoofs… the other three were not.  We placed 4th, so I was really happy about that!

Western under saddle… oh my gosh!! When one thinks of the things that could go wrong at a horse show, nearly taking out the judges and competition is probably NOT what comes to mind.  There were three horses total in the class… I was having a tough time getting Big John to calm down, so I didn’t actually get on him until about 10 seconds prior to going into the arena.  We were supposed to TROT into the arena.  Big John thunders into the arena at a full gallop, and I got him to stop about 5 feet away from the judge in the middle of the arena.  We back up, and line up with the other horses… we walk (yay… I can do this), we trot, and I’m holding him back to keep him from running over the other competitors.  And then the announcer says “lope your horses…” and I say to myself “I am SOOOO screwed!” Big John did not disappoint, thundering along the rail at a full gallop, nearly took out the judge, the helper, and the competition… at which point, I was excused (I think with prejudice).

The big guy was so freaked out after that when I took him back for the barrel racing, that I simply couldn’t get him to calm down, so I trailered him home and called it a day.  All in all, I was beyond happy!  Lots of new stimuli, including some 30 odd draft horses that he’d never been around before.  We actually got a 4th place finish, which considering that this was our first show, and didn’t know all of the ins and outs, I was elated.  It also tells me that I’ve done a pretty decent job, taking a horse that was basically a rescue, and getting him to where he is now.  And, I rode him… we made an entrance that few will forget, and while we failed, in a truly epic fashion, I was beyond happy with the big guy!  As we walked out of the ring, I kept rubbing his big head and telling him what a good boy he was!

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